Glorifying god - the most beneficial activity

The great souls achieve their greatness because of their unselfish motives. Such a great soul was King Yudhishthira, the eldest of pandavas. After kurukshetra war was over Lord Krishna advised Yudhishthira and his brothers to visit Pitamaha Bhishma, who was lying on a bed of arrows counting his last days. Pitamaha Bhishma, an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna, was the most experienced and the most knowledgeable person in kuru lineage. As per advise, Yudhishthira and his brothers approached Pitamah Bhishma and they had a long dialogue with him. In this dialogue Pitamah Bhishma touched upon many subjects in detail – how to run kingdom, what are the prime duties of king, how king should manage calamities etc. Yushishthira very attentively listened to all to what Pitamaha said. But even after listening to all his duties as king, he was not completely satisfied. Out of his unselfish motive of helping all his fellow citizens, he was curious to know about that activity that is supposed to be the most righteous of all righteous activities, by performing which every person whether a king or a common person, man or woman, will achieve - freedom from all sorrows, success in their prescribed duties, fulfillment of all desires and finally the most important goal of human life and that is moksha.

Pitamaha, very pleased with Yudhishthira’s curiosity, revealed to Yudhishthira that activity that is supposed to be the most effective and beneficial to all persons – and that is – remembering and glorifying Lord Vishnu all the time. And then he narrated to Yudhishthira 1000 names of Lord Vishnu, each name of which glorifies Lord Vishnu’s divine characteristics. All these 1000 names were compiled by Sage Vyasa and this collection of 1000 names came to be known as Vishnusahasranama. It has become so popular that whenever “sahasranaama” is referred it is considered as Vishnusahasranaama. There are such collections of 1000 names for other gods as well. For example Lalita sahasranaama (1000 names of Goddess Lalita), Shiva sahasranaama (1000 names of Lord Shiva) etc.

Navavidha Bhakti is a system of devotion devised by great Sages to help all fellow beings to get into devotion through nine steps. They say, out of these nine steps the steps that require most efforts are first three steps i.e. shravana (listening to glories of Lord Vishnu), kirtana (Singing the glories of Lord Vishnu) and Vishnu smarana (Remembering glories of Lord Vishnu). Vishnusahasranaama helps in all these steps. By repeatedly listening (shravana) to recital of Vishnusahasranaama (kirtana) one slowly gets into practice of singing the glory of Lord Vishnu (kirtana). And repeatedly performing listening and singing glory of Lord Vishnu one slowly gets into practice of remembering Lord Vishnu and his glories (Vishnu smarana) and when one is firmly established in remembering Lord Vishnu and his glories (Vishnu smarana), remaining steps happen as natural course of actions namely paada sevanam (resorting to lotus feet of Lord Vishnu), archanam (worshiping Lord Vishnu), vandanam (saluting Lord Vishnu), daasyam (devotional service to Lord Vishnu), sakhyam (divine friendship with Lord Vishnu) and atma-nivedanam (complete surrender to Lord Vishnu).

Chapter 4 of Dasbodh describes each step in detail.

Panchayatan Puja Padhhati

As per Hindu religion for every householder it is advised to perform panchayatan puja. This puja they say includes worshiping of five major deities namely - Surya, Devi, Vishnu, Ganapati and Shiva. 

It is recommended that one should keep idols of these five deities in the shrine in the specific arrangement. 

Depending on one's aradhya or ishta daivat the arrangement of these deities varies. For example devotees of Lord Ganapati, almost all Maharashtrians, will keep idol of Ganapati at the center and then idols of other deities around Ganapati. This is called Ganesh Panchayatan. In this way there are four more panchayatan arrangements - Shiva panchayatan (Shiva at center), Vishnu panchayatan (Vishnu at center), Surya panchayatan (Surya at center) and Devi panchayatan (Devi at center).

Typical Ganesh panchayatan arrangement will look like below

Who is Vaishnava?

One who considers others problems and suffering as his own and then helps those suffering people without any pride, that person is called Vaishnava.

One who considers nobody as lower than him, never talks ill of anybody, never criticizes, keeps his mind, body and speech pure, is called Vaishnava and indeed that person gives greatest satisfaction and joy to his parents.

One who keeps same loving feeling for his friends as well as foes, who looks at other women as his mothers, who never lies, who never desires for other’s property, is called Vaishnava.

One who does not get affected by greed and delusion, who has achieved firmness in practicing vairagya, who forgets himself when he listens to the chanting of divine name Shrirama, is called Vaishnava. His body is considered as the holy place. One can get same benefit by seeing such Vaishnava as one would get by visiting all tirthakshetras.

One who is un-deceitful by nature, one who has achieved victory over anger and greed, is indeed called Vaishnava. By mere darshan of such person one can help his 71 previous generations, meaning entire lineage, to get into the path of liberation.

Importance of worshiping cow

Importance of worshiping cow

Content of this article is based on discussions with Shri Raghupathi Sir.

We all know that Indian culture considers cow as God. From the old time Sages have been worshiping cow.

Here are few acts of worshiping cow and the benefits of those acts:

• One who daily worships cow i.e. performs puja of cow, receives blessings of Lord Shrikrishna, who is also known as Gopala i.e protector of cow
• One who daily offers a byte of food to a cow, Lord Shrikrishna fulfills all desires of that person
• One who performs abhishek of cow’s milk on Shaligrama, gets rid of all sins of past and present birth and hereafter goes in deva loka
• One who daily takes darshan of cow first thing in the morning, gets rid of all sorrows of life.
• One who daily performs circumambulation (pradakshina) around cow and its calf together, gets punya of visiting all tirtha kshetras

Best practice for performing and counting japa

The content of this article is based on discussions with Shri Raghupathi Sir

Performing japa or namasmaran is supposed to be the best sadhana to focus mind on God.

Here is some information about methods of performing and counting japa.

The first method of japa is uttering name of god aloud. In this method though one is chanting the name of god, it does not fetch much benefit. The second method is chanting the name of god without making any noise though making movement of lips. This method fetches medium benefits. The best method of chanting is when the name is chanted in the mind itself. This method, they say, fetches us the best results of chanting. Essentially for best results mind should be completely focused on the name of god.

Like methods for performing japa, there are also methods of counting japa. First method is when one counts japa by finger. This method though helps count japa it does not fetch us much benefit. Second method is to count japa with beads of japamala (garland). This method fetches us medium benefits. The best method of counting is to count by touching upper part of thumb to selected joints on the fingers, in the sequence shown in picture below.

For example, if one wants to complete some japa (e.g. Gayatri mantra japa) 108 times, then by using above diagram, it will be 10 rounds of 10 plus one round of 8. For the first round start from 1 and end at 10, for second round start from 10 and end at 1 and for third round start from 1 and end at 10 and so on.

Divine touch is necessary

सामर्थ्य आहे चळवळीचे । जो जे करील तयाचे ।
परी त्यास भगवंताचे । अधिष्ठान पाहिजे ।।
                                                  - दासबोध

The content in this article is based on notes captured during travel with Shri Raghupathi Sir. It is also based on discourses of Shankaracharya and other great spiritual persons.

For this article we are considering a common question - does listening to Veda mantras or puranas through recorded media yield desired results?

The answer is no.

Listening to the words in actual presence of a person versus listening to the recorded voice of person is much different.

To start with, let’s take a simple example in day to day life.  For example if  we record a  sentence of mother “oh son, come here”, will it have same effect as when mother is actually present and she is calling her son. The physical presence carries lot of other things, such as warmth of voice which makes great difference.

Similarly listening to vedamantras, stotras or scriptures directly from Guru or person of caliber carries a lot of importance versus listening to the same through recorded media.

Lets take another example of upanayana ceremony. The most important event of this ceremony is father acting as guru initiates his son in his bramhacharya phase by whispering Gayatri mantra in the ear of his son. Here there are two requirements to benefit from upanayana ceremony. One - father must have been consistent enough in his practice of chanting gayatri mantra and two - son must be ready to receive this mantra from his father. One may perform this ceremony in most pompous way, but if the two basic requirements mentioned are not satisfied then the ceremony is of no use. In this case also if we make the boy listen to recorded Gayatri mantra, it will not be same as father telling this mantra in the ear. The voice of father who is physically present contains his love for his son which makes a lot of difference.

Similarly vedamantras and stotras need to be learned directly from Guru or by attending vedapathashala - schools where vedamantras are taught. When Guru initiates disciple in chanting of vedamantras he adds his own divine touch to that mantra. Guru assumes complete responsibility of all mistakes that disciple commits while learning to chant the mantra which gives a protection to disciple which is not possible by learning the same by listening to recorded media.

Guru’s words carry a lot of power. We all know the story in Saisatcharit. Once when heavy rain was pouring over Shirdi, all Shirdi residents were quite worried about the storm and they approached Saibaba. Saibaba, out of compassion for all Shirdi residents, gazed at sky and just said “Stop your fury and stay calm”. And the wonder of wonders, the storm came to stop immediately. Such is the power of Guru’s words.

Another example, of recorded media versus actual presence of person, is performing puja. Nowadays due to difficulty in finding priest many people perform puja by playing recorded instructions. All pujas contain mantras to invite gods, called  as avaahan mantras. Will the recorded mantras be able to invite gods? It is not possible. That's why priests are usually initiated by Guru. The mantras chanted by such priests carry a lot weight and warmth needed to invite gods. Actually the priest seat carries a lot of importance. In case of difficulty in finding priest one may even make a family member e.g. young boy to act as priest, but there should be somebody acting as priest. In such cases kula daivat (family deity) assumes complete responsibility of the priest’s performance in puja.

Not just vedamantras, even activity of reading scriptures also needs to be initiated and blessed by Guru. In Saisatcharit, we come across stories where devotees asked permission from Saibaba for reading certain scripture e.g. Dnyaneshwari and only when Saibaba blessed that devotee and gave permission to read it then devotee read it and could understand the meaning of content.

So in essence, in all spiritual efforts one needs divine touch which is nothing but initiation from Guru and his blessings. Only then the spiritual activity can yield desired and best results.

Kanyakumari trip report - Part 1

With the blessings of Shri Raghupathi Sir, we, Dhananjay Gogate, Mandar Vaze, Sudhakar, Bhatia Uncle and Mahesh Bhide had a great trip to Kanya Kumari accompanied by Shri Sir himself. We drove from Dapoli all the way to Kanya Kumari and other places on the way back.

Thanks to Bhatia uncle who untiringly drove the car throughout the journey

And thanks to Shri Sir who gave us opportunity to travel with him to holy places.

Here is a short report of the trip.

We started from Dapoli in the morning of February 9 and on the way picked up Mahesh Bhide who joined us at Karhad. It took us 2 days to reach Kanya Kumari.

After reaching Kanyakumari on Feb 10 at around 4 PM, we visited Thanumalayan temple in Suchindram, 13 km from Kanyakumari. This temple is unique in the sense that the linga here represents three gods Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. It is a belief that Lord Indra himself installed this linga after performing severe penance to get rid of the curse on him by Sage Gautama. Because Lord Indra was purified in this place the place got the name Suchi-Indran (Suchi - pure, Indran - Lord Indra) meaning the place where Lord Indra got purified. This temple is famous for its architectural excellence. Another attraction in this temple is 18 feet tall Hanuman idol completely carved in stone.

After getting darshan of Suchindram temple we came back to Kanya Kumari. As everybody knows Kanya Kumari is a south tip of India. Three seas meet at this point - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Difference of color in the waters in these seas is quite visible.

The major religious attraction in Kanya Kumari is Bhagawathy Temple situated right on beach. This temple along with Suchindram temple mentioned above is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas distributed across India.

The story of the temple goes like this. Goddess Bhagawathy, as an adolescent girl, had an immense devotion towards Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva decided to marry Goddess Bhagawathy. Lord Shiva started his journey for marriage, however in the meantime Sage Narada, realizing that Goddess Bhagawathy had incarnated to kill Bhanasur, skillfully indicated that it was too late for marriage and marriage procession returned. Goddess Bhagawathy waited for long time, but since Lord Shiva never turned, she remained unmarried (Kanya Kumari) and finally chose to be sanyasin forever. She killed Bhanasur and remained in this place forever. That is how this place got its name.

Another attraction here is Swami Vivekananda rock. The story goes like this. On instruction from Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda travelled to Kanya Kumari to seek blessings of Goddess Bhagawathy. He meditated in this place for almost three days before he got a vision of Goddess who made him realize the mission of his life. There is a statue of Swami Vivekananda and Dhyan Mandir below that.

After taking overnight halt in Kanya Kumari, next day we started our journey to Thiruchendur, 55 km north-east of Kanya Kumari. Another place of religious importance. The place is famous for Lord Murugan temple. This temple is one of six abodes of Lord Murugan (Karthikeya Swami), remaining five are Palani, Swamimalai, Thiruthani, Pazhamudircholai, Thirupparamkunram, all in Tamil Nadu. According to Purana this temple is in existence for hundreds of years. The temple is located beside sea. Very recently this temple came into limelight during Tsunami that hit the Indian coast on December 26, 2004. Despite being on the sea shore, the temple remained completely unaffected, though nearby areas were affected by Tsunami.

From Thiruchendur we started our journey to Chennai. On our way we took overnight halt at famous Madurai, known as city of temples, particularly famous for Meenakshi Amman Temple. This temple is considered as a marvel in temple architecture. The temple is humongous. It is spread over 15 acres of land.

The main deity of this temple is Meenakshi, incarnation of Goddess Parvati. The story of the temple goes like this. King Pandya of this land performed Putra Kameshthi Yadnya. During yadnya Goddess Parvati appeared as a little girl. After this girl grew young she got married to Lord Sundareshwara, incarnation of Lord Shiva. It is believed that whole world turned for this marriage. It is also believed that Lord Vishnu performed kanya daan during this marriage. Inside temple the scenes of this marriage are carved in stone.

After taking awesome darshan of Meenakshi Amman temple we started our journey to Chennai and reached Chennai in the evening of Feb 12.

On next day we started our journey to Mosur, native place of Shri Raghupathi Sir and Sudhakar. In this village there are two temples of Lord Shiva. First temple that we visited is believed to be very old. They say that Adi Shakaracharya visited this temple. The priest here showed us Shri Yantra that was presented by Shri Adi Shankaracharya. This yantra is placed beside idol of Shri Dnyanambika, goddess of knowledge. It is believed that this Goddess fulfills demands of the devotee without any condition meaning it is not necessary to promise anything in return (navas). The only condition is that the demand has to come from a mind with no trace of hatred or jealousy.

In the next article we will cover remaining places.